From Ashby, 24 Aug., 1570.
P.S.—Because none there should know of my letter, I would not send it by my servant, but have desired Mr. Ad to deliver it to you in secret. When you have read it, I pray you to burn it and forget the name of the writer. I pray God I may not hear any more of your coming to ——.
There seems to have been no substantial ground for suspecting the loyalty of the Earl of Derby, which remained unshaken through another ordeal, the conspiracy of the Duke of Norfolk to marry the Queen of Scots, and place her on the English throne. But the Bishop of Ross gave evidence, that in Mary's design, in 1571, to escape from Sheffield Castle to the Continent, she was aided by several Lancashire gentlemen; and adds, that she wrote a letter by a little priest of Rolleston's to Sir Thomas Stanley. Sir Thomas Gerrard and Rolleston devised a cypher for her; and they offered to convey her away, and willed the Bishop to ask the Duke of Norfolk's opinion therein. The prelate further stated that Hall told him that if the Queen [Mary] would get two men landed in Lancashire, Sir Thomas Stanley, and Sir Edward Stanley, along with Sir Thomas Gerrard, and Rolleston, would effect her escape to France or Flanders, &c. Upon this evidence Sir Thomas Stanley, Sir Thomas Gerrard, and Rolleston, were apprehended, and committed to the Tower as state prisoners.[87]
FOOTNOTES:
[75] Allen's History of Yorkshire, vol. iii. pp. 421-425.
[76] Gort, narrow; gor, upper, Brit.; gór, blood, A.-S. Gorple may mean the bloody pile, or the upper pile.
[77] From Sceot-hull, afterwards Scout or Shoot-hill, and worth—i.e., the farm or hamlet of the projecting ledge or hill.
[78] Dr. Borlase's argument is cumulative. He observes that rock basins are always on the top, never on the sides of the stones; that the ancients sacrificed on rocks; that water was used by them for lustration and purification; that snow, rain, or dew, was preferred by them to running water; that it was not permitted to touch the earth; that the Druids practised similar rites, and held rain or snow-water to be holy; and they attributed a healing virtue to the gods inhabiting rocks; that their priests stood upon rocks to wash, sprinkle, and drink, &c. All these considerations, he conceives, favour his opinion that rock basins were used, if not formed, by the Druids.
[79] See Watson's History of Halifax, pp. 27-36.
[80] Professor Hunt is of the same opinion. See his recent work on the Drolls of Cornwall, vol. i. pp. 186-228.